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Uldrus: Ice and Darkness

Tis now the very witching time of night, / When churchyards yawn and Hell itself breathes out / Contagion to this world: / Now could I drink hot blood / And do such bitter business as the day / Would quake to look upon. --William Shakespeare

Bio:

A defining moment of Freith’s life would be the recent loss of her fiance, Caedo. In her grief and her blind denial, Freith has suffered something of a breakdown—and now, in this new age where the sicknesses of the soul are made manifest in the flesh, her body has degenerated along with her mind. Rather than succumb completely to despair, though, Freith would draw strength from her afflictions, and use her dark gifts to strike back against the Mordent, whom she blames for Caedo’s disappearance. Her condition has gone beyond the point of divine healing; the only balm she knows now is to lose herself in the rapture of violence.

Whether Caedo was lost in a Mordent attack or to exposure or starvation is unclear. Freith herself doesn’t seem to know. It seems just as likely that Caedo abandoned Freith on account of her progressive degeneration as anything else. Freith spends most of her time in reverential memories of her vanished betrothed, whispering his name and talking about his bright smile and rubbing at the engagement ring on her left hand. The gold ring has become blackened and tarnished from constant abuse, but Freith doesn’t seem to notice. One of the few things that can stir her from this trance would be talk of Luxis, which she echoes in an overly-loud and overly-enthusiastic voice. Her contributions to any conversation about Luxis tend towards the violent mutilation of Luxis’ enemies. The only other things that can motivate her is the threat of imminent danger. She seeks out traps and enemies with a paranoid determination, and engages in combat with an eerily childish delight.

Apparently Freith was a caravan guard before the world ended, protecting merchants and travelers from the depredations of bandits and assassins.

Being a gnome, Freith is the size of a normal human child. Her similarities to a child make the discrepancies all the more disturbing. Her eyes have wasted away, leaving only a dim blue light glowing at the back of her empty sockets. Her lips, too, have shriveled, leaving her yellowed teeth permanently exposed in a rictus grin. She wears dark goggles over her eyes to hide her affliction (and also to protect her from bright light, which as become intolerable to her), and a cloth mask over her naked teeth. The corruption has left her hair intact, however, and when the party is at rest she will lavish attention on combing through her dark brown curls—perhaps knowing that her hair is her last vestige of beauty.